Abstract:Habitat loss and fragmentation, together with related edge effects, are the primary cause of global biodiversity decline. Despite a large amount of research quantifying and demonstrating the degree of these effects, particularly in top predators and their prey, most fragmented patches are lost before their conservation value is recognized. This study evaluates terrestrial vertebrates in Playa Sandalo, in the Osa Peninsula of Costa Rica, which represents the last patch of “primary” forest in the most developed … Show more
“…Managed under the Area de Conservación Osa (ACOSA), the Osa Peninsula contains three core protected areas, Piedras Blancas and Corcovado National Parks and a Ramsar wetland site, the Terreba-Sierpe Wetlands. There are also nine smaller private and public wildlife refuges and the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve [54]. Figure 1Land use map of the Osa Peninsula.…”
As more land is altered by human activity and more species become at risk of extinction, it is essential that we understand the requirements for conserving threatened species across human-modified landscapes. Owing to their rarity and often sparse distributions, threatened species can be difficult to study and efficient methods to sample them across wide temporal and spatial scales have been lacking. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is increasingly recognized as an efficient method for collecting data on vocal species; however, the development of automated species detectors required to analyse large amounts of acoustic data is not keeping pace. Here, we collected 35 805 h of acoustic data across 341 sites in a region over 1000 km
2
to show that PAM, together with a newly developed automated detector, is able to successfully detect the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey (
Ateles geoffroyi
), allowing us to show that Geoffroy's spider monkey was absent below a threshold of 80% forest cover and within 1 km of primary paved roads and occurred equally in old growth and secondary forests. We discuss how this methodology circumvents many of the existing issues in traditional sampling methods and can be highly successful in the study of vocally rare or threatened species. Our results provide tools and knowledge for setting targets and developing conservation strategies for the protection of Geoffroy's spider monkey.
“…Managed under the Area de Conservación Osa (ACOSA), the Osa Peninsula contains three core protected areas, Piedras Blancas and Corcovado National Parks and a Ramsar wetland site, the Terreba-Sierpe Wetlands. There are also nine smaller private and public wildlife refuges and the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve [54]. Figure 1Land use map of the Osa Peninsula.…”
As more land is altered by human activity and more species become at risk of extinction, it is essential that we understand the requirements for conserving threatened species across human-modified landscapes. Owing to their rarity and often sparse distributions, threatened species can be difficult to study and efficient methods to sample them across wide temporal and spatial scales have been lacking. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is increasingly recognized as an efficient method for collecting data on vocal species; however, the development of automated species detectors required to analyse large amounts of acoustic data is not keeping pace. Here, we collected 35 805 h of acoustic data across 341 sites in a region over 1000 km
2
to show that PAM, together with a newly developed automated detector, is able to successfully detect the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey (
Ateles geoffroyi
), allowing us to show that Geoffroy's spider monkey was absent below a threshold of 80% forest cover and within 1 km of primary paved roads and occurred equally in old growth and secondary forests. We discuss how this methodology circumvents many of the existing issues in traditional sampling methods and can be highly successful in the study of vocally rare or threatened species. Our results provide tools and knowledge for setting targets and developing conservation strategies for the protection of Geoffroy's spider monkey.
“…The average annual precipitation ranges from 2,500 to 6,000 mm, with a rainy season from May to November, and temperatures are on average 25 °C (Holdridge, 1967;Kappelle et al, 2003). The current main economic activities are ecotourism, agriculture, fishing, timber production and livestock farming (Hunt et al, 2015;Gutierrez et al, 2019).…”
“…Osa Peninsula in the remote southwest corner of Costa Rica is recognized as one of the most biodiverse places on earth relative to its size (~ 1,200 km 2 ), with 2.5% of the world’s known terrestrial species of plants and animals [ 1 ]. Once an island in the Pacific, the peninsula evolved in isolation until it merged with mainland Costa Rica two million years ago [ 2 ].…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Once an island in the Pacific, the peninsula evolved in isolation until it merged with mainland Costa Rica two million years ago [ 2 ]. One of the last places in Costa Rica to be settled by large human groups, the Osa Peninsula has the largest remaining tract of Pacific lowland wet forest in Mesoamerica [ 1 ], which extends all the way to the Pacific Ocean. High species richness has also been reported from Osa’s marine-coastal ecosystems [ 3 ].…”
Osa Peninsula in remote southwest Costa Rica harbors 2.5% of global terrestrial biodiversity in only 1,200 km2 and has the largest remaining tract of Pacific lowland wet forest in Mesoamerica. However, little is known about the marine ecosystems of this diverse region. Much of the coastline consists of soft sediment exposed to strong wave action. Three major hard bottom habitat types define this region, including: 1) coral reefs around Isla del Caño Biological Reserve, a no-take marine protected area (MPA) of 52 km2, 2) coastal rocky reefs and islets along the peninsula, including Corcovado National Park, and 3) submerged pinnacles just outside the Isla del Caño MPA. Average coral cover at Isla del Caño was 21%, composed primarily of Porites lobata and Pocillopora elegans. In contrast, coastal rocky reefs were dominated by turf algae (39.8%) and macroalgae (20.7%) with low coral cover (1.1%). Submerged pinnacles were dominated by crustose coralline algae (33.3%) and erect coralline algae (25.7%). Fish assemblage characteristics (species richness, abundance, biomass) were significantly higher at the pinnacles compared to the other habitats and was dominated by schooling species such as Haemulon steindachneri, and the herbivores Kyphosus ocyurus, and Acanthurus xanthopterus. Top predators, primarily Triaenodon obesus, Caranx sexfasciatus, and Lutjanus argentimaculatus, were also most abundant at these pinnacles and accounted for the largest differences in fish trophic structure among habitats. Despite Isla del Caño being fully protected from fishing, biomass was similar to fished areas along the coast and lower than the adjacent submerged pinnacles outside the reserve. Similarly, Corcovado National Park includes 20.3 km2 of no-take MPAs; however, there is limited enforcement, and we noted several instances of fishing within the park. The unique configuration of healthy offshore coral reefs and pinnacles connected to coastal habitats provides corridors for many species including large predators such as sharks and other marine megafauna, which warrants additional protection.
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